Rehabilitation and physical therapy strategies targeting extra pulmonary manifestations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)are far from being well defined. Studies, performed in healthy subjects using threshold breathing device [a simple method to increase inspiratory muscle load] have shown that ventilatory muscle overactivation during loaded breathing may prime reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, thus initiating an inflammatory response that results in elevation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, particularly IL_6. Increase of cytokine IL_6 in turn, elicits a cascade of systemic responses, involving hormone like glucoregulatory mechanisms, lipolysis and fat oxidation, as well as control of breathing.